Canucks 5 Oilers 2: Preseason Postgame PatDown

The Vancouver Canucks dressed what could be their opening night line-up when they hosted Edmonton on Saturday at Rogers Arena. The Oilers left Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl at home. As such, the Canucks star power took control of the hockey game and led Vancouver to its first victory of the preseason. 

Here are some thoughts and takeaways from the 5-2 win:

*Quinn Hughes looks to be serving notice to the NHL that he's ready to be included in the conversation of best defensemen in the league. The real list of the very best. Wearing the captain's C on home ice for the first time, Hughes scored twice, added an assist and sent 10 pucks the way of Oiler netminder Stuart Skinner. Eight of those attempts hit the target and two found the back of the net. In two preseason games, Hughes now has three goals and 19 shot attempts. He said after the morning skate on Saturday that he wants to shoot more this season. That is clearly not just lip service. He was a dynamic and dominant force on Saturday and looks to be in mid-season form with two games remaining on the exhibition schedule.

*Brock Boeser may not be the goal scorer that he was early in his career, nor the goal scorer that people still want him to be. But on Saturday, he showed flashes of the player he can be for the Canucks. And that's a valuable piece of the puzzle. Boeser finished the night with four assists on a line with JT Miller and Phil Di Giuseppe. His first helper of the night was a rink wide breakout that sent Di Giuseppe in 2-on-1 with Quinn Hughes. Boeser was assertive along the boards and was a fixture at the net front. The shots were 8-2 Canucks when Boeser was on the ice at even strength on Saturday and his team outscored the Oilers 3-0. It was a good night for Boeser.

*Di Giuseppe is an interesting character. A week shy of his 30th birthday, the former second round draft pick has never profiled as an offensive producer at the NHL level. Yet there he is on what amounts to the Canucks second line. And he contributed with a goal and two assists. His second helper and his goal were both the result of him standing his ground at the Oilers netfront. Rick Tocchet has already name checked PDG in the preseason for his willingness to engage in and win board battles. And on Saturday, he let the offense flow. When Ilya Mikheyev is healthy and cleared to return, he may slot in where Di Giuseppe is playing. But until that time, the veteran winger is staking his claim to a top six role on this hockey club. The fact he kills penalties almost certainly cements his spot on the opening night roster.

*Speaking of the penalty kill, there is a different feeling around that group for the Canucks. The PK went four for four on Saturday against the Oilers (who were missing two key pieces of their power play). But this is more about the fact that Carson Soucy continues to look disruptive and Ian Cole brings an aggression to the assignment. Teddy Blueger and Pius Suter have stepped in and done their part, too. On Saturday, Cole led all Canucks in short-handed ice time at 3:50 followed by Filip Hronek at 3:42. Soucy logged 3:25 of penalty killing duty. The Canucks have brought in new faces to get the job done in an area that sunk them on too many nights the past few seasons. It's only preseason, but there is a different look and feel to this Canucks penalty kill -- and the biggest difference so far is that almost all short-handed situations have lasted the full two minutes and haven't ended with a deflating goal against.

*Cole McWard had a tough night. He's a young player still trying to find his way and this is the NHL -- even if it's preseason. McWard got caught out for a 2:08 shift on his first time on the ice Saturday. With nothing left in the tank, he was forced to take a cross checking penalty that put the Canucks down a man five minutes into the hockey game. It was the first of three minor penalties for McWard and that cut into his golden opportunity to play alongside Quinn Hughes for a second straight game. Even with all that penalty time, McWard still logged 16:32 on the night and managed an individual Corsi of 50% with the Canucks outscoring the Oilers 2-0 when he was on the ice at even strength. But where Wednesday's game in Edmonton seemed like a step forward for McWard, Saturday felt like it opened the door to the Canucks continuing their search for the right fit to play with Hughes. 

*The new video board at Rogers Arena is spectacular. Like most new toys, there are still some bugs to work out and on Saturday the score clock portion of the board glitched on several occasions. But the picture quality of the board itself is sensational and once the Canucks game events crew gets the handle on how best to use it, it's going to enhance the experience for fans attending games immensely. Saturday felt like the organization was easing into the new addition to the arena and not showing off all of its capabilities. But there was enough on display -- even through a few rough patches -- to get excited about the upgrade. Kudos to the Canucks for spending the money to modernize their faciliity.